News from Maison de la Gare
A Mother, A Daughter at Maison de la Gare
Tweeter
Mila Giraudon and Katia Figura share their experience volunteering together
My mother and I have been fortunate to travel around the world and to discover many
cultures, at times 
seeing extreme poverty. We have wanted for a long time to get
involved in a humanitarian project together, although we didn’t know what this could
be or how we would do it. We therefore left home with the simple purpose of helping,
of making ourselves useful within this organization.
Maison de la Gare gave us an experience far beyond our expectations, much more than
a simple "project". We were able to get a feeling for the life of the talibés in all
its facets … their everyday lives on the streets, their rudimentary needs (washing
their clothes and themselves) and learning the rules of life in society, but also
their physical and emotional wounds and their precarious living conditions
in their
daaras.
What a wonderful feeling to see them smile and to make them forget, if only for a
moment, their lives on the streets, through creative play activities, songs and
lessons in French or mathematics.
My mother (a mother of two) and I (a 17-year-old high school student) lived this
experience differently ... but we shared it fully, together.
We were very moved by these children who only ask to escape their difficult lives
through their desire 
to learn, to discover, to create and to show their pride in
their beautiful drawings and other creations.
On the last day of our stay Abdou, a child to whom I had taught notions of poetry,
wrote me a very powerful poem. He announced to me that he had just been accepted
in a high school in Saint-Louis, the lifelong dream of this self-taught child.
It was a moment of emotion and pride. I felt like I had contributed a little to a
"better life" for a talibé child. Teaching children basic literacy and
reintegrating them in society is one of the priority missions of volunteers and
members of Maison de la Gare.
I will remember the day of my birthday as both unforgettable and overwhelming
because, for the talibés, it is a day like any other. These young children stood
in front of me, singing and dancing, but none of them understood the meaning of
the word "birthday"; most do not even know their date of birth!
Carrying out a humanitarian project like this brought my mother and me a lot closer
and enabled us to support each other during certain trying times. On the last day,
we agreed to accompany Maison de la Gare’s night-rounds team. That night we needed
each other to overcome the images of children sleeping on the ground in the
unhealthy and dangerous bus terminal. Abandoned, often mistreated, they preferred
to flee their daara or their family, and they found shelter for the night at
Maison de la Gare. The next morning, everything is set in motion to find the
children’s families and to understand what could have pushed
them to put
themselves in such danger.
During these few days shared with the talibés, we became aware of the fundamental
role of NGOs like Maison de la Gare that work night and day for the well-being of
these neglected children. Beyond what we were able to do ourselves, it is Maison
de la Gare’s values and its people that will always remain etched in our memories.
Our host Mama Touty was truly a welcoming "mother"; heart in hand, she welcomed
us as her children.
We were the first mother-daughter duo to live this unforgettable experience and
we warmly thank Maison de la Gare and everyone who is a part of it.
